Dominant solo win for Cant in Essen

Sanne Cant (Enertherm-BKCP) faced little opposition during the fourth round of the Bpost Bank Trophy in Essen. The European and Belgian champion turned the race into a one-woman-show, finishing with a 26 seconds bonus over young Dutch rider Thalita de Jong (Rabobank). It was her first victory of the season in the Bpost Bank Trophy.

“It wasn’t the plan before the race [to ride alone]. I planned to profit a bit until the race was halfway due to the wind. Then suddenly I had a gap and I didn’t hesitate,” Cant told Sporza.

Cant had a good start, riding just behind British champion Helen Wyman (Kona Factory Team) who managed to take the hole shot in Essen. At one of the deep mud sections Cant surged forward and took the lead. On the fast course Cant was clearly able to maintain a higher rhythm than her rivals.

“I wanted confirmation for myself. I’ve worked very hard on these type of courses this summer,” Cant said.

Trophy leader Jolien Verschueren (Young Telenet-Fidea) finished third in Essen, trailing Cant by 32 seconds. Thanks to the bonus seconds at the intermediate sprint and at the finish Cant gained 25 extra seconds on Verschueren, meaning Verschueren’s lead on Cant dropped from 1:17 to 20 seconds in the event series standings based on time.

“There’s many more hard races. A lot of time can still be won or lost,” Cant said.

Verschueren was glad to be still in the lead.

“I managed to control the damage. I had a reasonable start and rode a decent race. Maybe I pulled too much in the chase on Cant. That’s why Thalita was able to ride away in the end,” Verschueren said.

Early on Wyman briefly followed the 25 year-old Belgian leader but faded before the end of the opening lap, trailing by five seconds. Verschueren started rather well, quickly featuring in the top-10. Thalita had a pedal problem and rode at the back of the pack.

Cant picked up the 15 bonus seconds in the second lap with Wyman taking 10 and Pavla Havlikova taking the remaining 5 seconds. After two laps Cant had a gap of 15 seconds on a group that included Wyman, Havlikova, Verschueren, Nikki Harris (Young Telenet-Fidea) and Sophie de Boer (Kalas-NNOF). During the following lap De Jong bounced back from her poor start and closed the gap to the back of the chase group where Verschueren was creating a small gap. For Wyman, Harris and Havlikova the pace set by Verschueren, De Boer and De Jong was just too fast to follow.

During the penultimate lap Cant kept cruising over the fast course at high speed, easily winning the battle against the wind and her rivals. De Jong did the same in the background, dropping Verschueren and De Boer. In the final lap Cant kept working hard to get as much time bonus as possible, only lifting her hands in the air after crossing the finish line. De Jong nearly lost out on her second place when she misjudged a corner and became entangled. She recovered quickly to still finish second at 26 seconds. Verschueren sprinted faster than De Boer 32 seconds behind.

The fifth round of the Bpost Bank Trophy is held on December 19 in Antwerp, Belgium.

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